A sad surprise...

[footsie]

I went in to feed my bunnies today and I founda sad surprise. One of my male bunnies has turned out to befemale! Instead of finding live kits, I found deadones. Does anyone know why this happened?

We keep ourrabbits outside in a large covered pen, could thisbe why? Could the kitshave been too cold?

Myrabbits are young, 6 months old. Are they just too young to have little ones?

Could the males have hurt them?

I don't even know which one it was, so now I am on lookout for any changes because she is probably pregnant again.

What a sad morning; I'm just happy that my kids didn't see it.

 

[brimmhere]

oh man such horrible news! im sooooosorry to hear it. theres so many possibilities towhat could of happened. is there a way you can sex each bunnyand seperate them?? if its a possibility of pregnancy again ,this could help you keep an eye on things.

 

[Nicky Snow]

that is very sad. Sorry,

Nicole

 

Question?

Are these Rabbits all in onePen? If they are They need to beseperated , especially IF you have no clue which isMale and which is Female .Generally the Male wont kill thebabies, The FemaleWILL. Especially ifshe precieves the Male as a threat , which shewill.

Rabbits shouldnt be allowed to breedbefore 6 months old Irrigardless of the Breed .They are not experienced enoughMothers at this age and suchincidence as thiscan and willhappen.

There are many things that can go wrong , Fetaldeath being one of them . TheDoe could have also Died.

Best Advice I can give you right now isto Seperate them . If You cantput them in seperate cages finda way to block off the one they are, split it in half so they haveno direct contact with eachother , but can smell and interact witheach other thru the wire.

 

[bluebird]

The males may stomp the babies if they are inthe same cage.a pregnant female needs her own cage.if they are togethernow she probably bred again as soon as the litter was born.Sometimesfirst time mothers dont feed the babies.bluebird

 

[Carolyn]

I'm so sorry.

:rose:

-Carolyn

 

[BunnyMom]

I'm so sorry about your bunnies!

 

[footsie]

Thanks everyone for replying. As ofyesterday, they are all separated. I have the female down totwo rabbits, this is because of the colour of the fur on the ground forthe nest. I am assuming more babies are on the waysoon.

It is interesting that the mother will kill the babies if feelingstressed about the males. I guess this is why they can haveup to 200 babies a year. Amazing.

We just started to build another pen for the female. We havehomes for the babies when/ifthey get here.

I think we are going to keep another female from the litter.Can two females be in the same pen? The pens are verylarge. The boys (3)pen is 12feet by12feet. The females will only be a little smaller.

Thanks again to everyone that has replied!

 

[naturestee]

Two females can be in the same pen as long asthey get along. I would recommend keeping them separate untilafter they have any babies that they might be caring for or carrying-so wait at least a month after you separated them from themales. After the babies are weaned, you can try keeping themtogether.

One more thing- are you sure of everyone's gender now? Iwould recommend having a vet or experienced breeder check your rabbitsand make sure that they really are the gender you think theyare. The gender fairy is very active with rabbits.